Before you start
- A valid UK visa granted under the relevant route
- A UKVI account linked to your immigration status
- The Immigration Health Surcharge paid as part of your application
- A Reading address, for the NI number application and most services
Step-by-step
- 1
Create and check your UKVI account before you travel
The eVisa is the only record of your status. Confirm the passport number, your personal details and the permissions shown all match what was granted. Errors are far easier to fix from abroad than from a Reading letting agency with a holding deposit already paid.
OnlineWho: YouBefore travel - 2
Check your prospective employer on the register of licensed sponsors
The Home Office publishes the full list of organisations licensed to sponsor Skilled Workers, and it is searchable. In the Thames Valley most of the large technology, telecoms and pharmaceutical employers appear on it, along with the university and the NHS trusts — but the very large contractor and consultancy market around them often does not, and a contract role is frequently not sponsorable however senior it is.
OnlineWho: YouBefore applying - 3
Generate both share codes before you need either
Employers and landlords check your status with a code you generate from the UKVI account. Codes are time-limited and purpose-specific — a right-to-work code will not satisfy a right-to-rent check, and you will need both inside your first fortnight in a rental market this competitive.
OnlineWho: You - 4
Apply for a National Insurance number as soon as you arrive
There is no route to apply from abroad. Check first whether you already hold one printed in the remarks on an old BRP. Without it you can work legally, but payroll will usually apply an emergency tax code.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1 - 5
Register with a GP while you are still well
You have already paid the Immigration Health Surcharge, but access runs through a GP practice and nothing happens automatically. Practices around Whiteknights, Redlands and central Reading take a large student intake each September, so register before it rather than during it.
In personWho: YouWeek 1 - 6
Separate what is UK-wide from what is English
Your visa, NI number and surcharge are identical everywhere in the UK. Income tax bands, the NHS prescription charge, tenancy law and school admissions are devolved and materially different in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Advice written for Cardiff or Edinburgh is right about your visa and wrong about your payslip and your tenancy.
OnlineWho: You
Documents you’ll need
- Passport with the visa granted
- UKVI account credentials, including the phone and email used for two-step verification
- Share codes, generated per purpose for employers and landlords
- Proof of a Reading address
- Evidence of Immigration Health Surcharge payment, included in the visa grant
Things most newcomers don’t know
The Thames Valley contracting market is enormous, and most of it cannot sponsor you.
Reading's technology economy has an unusually large day-rate contractor layer orbiting the big vendors — integrators, resellers, consultancies, agencies. Those roles pay well and are frequently advertised without any mention of sponsorship, because the intermediary is not a licensed sponsor and cannot become one for a single placement. Check the Home Office register before you invest weeks in an application; the permanent roles inside the vendors and the NHS trusts are where the sponsorship actually is.
Source: GOV.UK — register of licensed sponsors: workers
There is no physical document any more, and that changes what can go wrong.
Vignette stickers ended for new applicants on 1 July 2026 and BRP cards before that. Your status exists only as an online record, so a locked-out account, an unchanged passport number or a mistyped detail are now the failure modes — and there is no card to show while you fix it.
Source: GOV.UK — online immigration status (eVisa)
You can only apply for a National Insurance number from inside the UK.
There is no advance route, so it is a first-week task rather than a pre-departure one. Several visa categories already have a number printed on the reverse of the old BRP — applying for a second creates a records problem that takes months to unpick.
Source: GOV.UK — apply for a National Insurance number
The Immigration Health Surcharge is a lump sum paid before you have earned anything.
It is charged per year of leave for every family member and paid with the application, on top of the visa fee. For a five-year visa with dependants it runs well into five figures, and it lands months before your first UK payslip — in a town where you will also need a South-East-sized deposit.
Source: GOV.UK — pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application
Common mistakes to avoid
- Chasing Thames Valley contract roles that no licensed sponsor sits behind.
- Travelling without having logged into and checked the UKVI account.
- Generating a right-to-work code and offering it for a right-to-rent check.
- Applying for a second National Insurance number you already hold on an old BRP.
- Budgeting the visa fee but not the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.
Make it your personal checklist
Globe Quest turns this into a tracked, AI-personalized plan for Reading — timed to your move date, with reminders so nothing slips. Free to start.
Sources
- GOV.UK — online immigration status (eVisa) — official
- GOV.UK — updates on the move to eVisas — official, Vignettes ended for new applicants 1 July 2026
- GOV.UK — apply for a National Insurance number — official
- GOV.UK — register of licensed sponsors: workers — official
- GOV.UK — right to rent checks — official
Last verified August 2026. Government processes change — always confirm critical details against the official source before acting.